Long claim form split into four stages: 1.77% to 4.33% conversion
Test run byApexureCRO agency
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsTurning a single long claim form into a four-stage form with the easier questions first lifted end-to-end lead conversion from 1.77% to 4.33%.
Apexure ran this A/B test in Unbounce for Reclaim My PPI Tax, a UK online tax rebate claims service.
Several form changes shipped in one variant, so the lift belongs to the redesign as a whole.
- End-to-end lead conversion rate: 1.77% to 4.33%, about a 145% relative lift.
- Fewer people dropped out part way through, according to the agency.
- Splitting the form, reordering questions and changing the field layout were tested together, so no single change gets the credit.
- The test ran for about a month on paid traffic. No visitor or claim counts were shared.
The change
One long form becomes four stages, with easy questions first.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
One long claim and registration form asking for case background as well as personal details.
Variant
The same questions split into four stages with a progress bar, easier questions moved to the front, and some fields placed side by side instead of in one column.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Breaking the form into stages made it look less daunting at first glance.
- Easy questions first let people build momentum before the harder case details, so they were more invested by then.
- Side-by-side fields shortened the visible form and made it quicker to scan.
Caveats: Several form changes in one variant. About a month of paid traffic, but no traffic counts or confidence level were given.
Who ran it
Apexure ran this test for UK online tax rebate claims service and published the results (Apexure case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Apexure →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we split our long form into short stages and put the easiest questions first, then more visitors will finish it because each step feels small and they build momentum before the harder questions.
- Primary metric
- End-to-end form completion (lead) rate
- Guardrails
- Lead quality or accepted-claim rate
- Drop-off at each stage
- Mobile completion rate
- Who should test it
- UK lead-gen businesses that rely on long online claim, application or quote forms fed by paid traffic. A short form with only a few fields may not gain from being split into steps.
Questions
Do multi-step forms convert better than single-page forms?
Often, for long forms. Here a four-stage form more than doubled completed claims, though it was tested together with question order and layout changes.
What questions should come first in a long form?
The easiest ones that people can answer without thinking.
Once they have started, people are more likely to push through the harder questions.
Should form fields sit side by side?
Pairing short related fields, like first and last name, can make a form look shorter.
Keep a single column on small screens if pairs feel cramped.